Sent the ruler and brick wall tests to Bjorn today! Bjorn doesn't see any problems with these tests, so I guess its safe to assume that I've got a good sample.

Anyway, in my humble newbie opinion, the CZ SAL1680Z is a great all around lens with incredible sharpness rivaling that of my prime 50mm 1.4 under the right conditions.

It completely trumps the standard 18-70 kit lens in my opinion as far as IQ is concerned. The fact that it can zoom longer, wider and brighter is reason enough for me to justify the upgrade.

I really don't have that much issue with the build quality since I've upgraded from the standard lens. I HAVE seen quality Nikon primes that my friend brought with him, but then, he uses a semi-pro/upper enthusiast D300, so the difference in quality doesn't bother me much (I'm using an entry-level A300 after all).

The SAL1680Z is expensive, but as far as I'm concerned, I'm getting what I paid for. Even my Nikon-loyal friend was impressed by it, not least of all by the Zeiss badge it carries.

Now that I have some quality tools, I think I'll continue my journey towards our common goal of being a quality photographer.

For those who've not yet seen it, and just can't wait to see the Zeiss 16-80mm unboxed, here's a video on my old YouTube channel. Don't bother to comment, I won't read any comments on my old channel anyway :

Is there any better option for this kind of range (most importantly at the wide-end - i.e. the Tamron 17-50 as a rival) for A mount, within this price range? I'm looking into my next purchase, and I really need something that can match the quality of the 70-300 G at the wider end.

The CZ branding has me virtually won over already, but i'm interested in any other alternatives. The T17-50 has the 2.8 aperture, but does the CZ still win out, despite this? Surely the CZ would be closer to the IQ of the 70-300 G than the Tamron?

There are alternatives, I think all of them are cheaper, but overall they are tested to have more distortion, CAs etc. For the alpha system, I don't think there is optically a better choice if 16/17mm is your starting point. But it is the most expensive choice I'm afraid.

I wouldn't bet on, or wait for it. Even the rumour mill doesn't mention an updated model. I bet you have checked out Gordon's review on the 16-80. Focus speed is one of the 'major concerns' of this lens, but in practice, it isn't too bad. Much noisier than a 70-300G of course, but not very much slower (but that's partially due to the focal length of the 70-300). Untill I met the Zeiss 24-70 (:shock: ) I was very pleased with the performance overall.

The screw-drive method is mostly reviewed as a let-down compared to competition but generally I'm not always impressed with the silent motor speed of those lenses either. The screw-drive can be really fast. But noisy, I'll give them that .